Case study | Artisans d'Angkor

–Overview
Artisans d'Angkor is a Cambodian independent and self-financing limited company with minor public participation established by the artisan school Chantiers-Écoles de Formation Professionelle (CEFP). The company serves as a school-to-work program for young graduating craftsmen. It aims to improve the social and economic living conditions of the young Cambodian rural population. In april 2007 Artisans d'Angkor has 13 workshops in 12 villages in Siem Reap Province, creating over 1000 jobs, of which 713 are artisans. It has various sales outlets and products can also be bought via internet. Products are bought mostly by tourists.

–Background and challenge
Cambodia has suffered many years of war and latest the Red Khmer rouge which reduced radically the amount of educated people. Especially the poor and rural families had difficulties to get their children trained. The Khmer culture was also in a bad condition.
In 1992 the National Cambodian Insitutions, the French Foreign Ministry and the European Union founded an artisan school Chantiers-Écoles de Formation Professionelle (CEFP). Most of the apprentices were from poor rural families and had had no primary education. Many were also physically handicapped or demobilised and the majority are unemployed. There was also a problem to get these educated artisans to get employed after their studies.

CEFP established Artisans d'Angkor in 1998-2001 with financial support from the European Union under the REPLIC Program (Programme Rural d'Éducation Professionnelle et Logique d'Insertion au Cambodge). The task was to help young Cambodian artisans to find work in their home villages and provide them with a trade and role in society after school. It's task was also to promote Khmer cultural identity. The location of AA workshops in rural villages is part of a strategy to curb rural depopulation and create a local wealth-generating initiative that can benefit the economy of the wider village. Artians d'Angkor also vigorously pursues a policy in the employment of people with disabilities. 5 per cent of craftspeople have a physical disability and the work environment is modified to ensure that they are able to develop their full skill competencies.
[http://www.artisansdangkor.com/html/press_room/pdf/tstone_av_ju_07.pdf]

–Methods

Artisans d'Angkor and CEFP select young apprentices between 18 to 25 years old, living close to future production sites (rural workshops and production sites of Siem Reap and Puok) through motivation and skill tests. Artisans don't have to pay any fees for the training, Artisans d'Angkor moreover pays a living allowance, gives clothes and tools during the training period. The training at the CEFP lasts about 2 to 6 months and training in Artisans d'Angkor about 14 months: 6 months wood carving and then 8 for other areas. Afterwards some apprentices become teachers to Artisans d'Angkor and many begin their own businesses after training whilst maintaining retail cooperation with artisans.

Artisans earn as a base salary between US$60-US$80 per month depending on skills and experience. On top of the fixed salary, they earn a commission from the sale of each product, which can often double their base salaries. This is notable, especially in a country where the annual per capita income is US$445. An average artisan monthly income is equivalent to what a Cambodian rural farmer will earn in a year.

–Innovation
With the financial support from EU the skilled artisans got organized into a self-sustaining handicraft network. At the term of the European project REPLIC (1998-2001) and thanks to its sales, Artisans d'Angkor was self-sustainable and ready to be autonomous. In 2003, the French Agency for Development (AFD) injected complementary resources to assist the self-management of Artisans d'Angkor. It became a limited liability company with a minor public share. Since then, Artisans d'Angkor is completely self-financed and autonomous, which operates within the commercial fied to achieve financial sustainability.
Apart from being a school-to-work program Artisans d’Angkor also became the financer of the CEFP. It establishes village workshops, supplies raw materials, offers vital support in the field of design development and markets and sells work produced at its workshops in its various sales outlets.
Since its creation Artisans d'Angkor has pioneered a new social policy in Cambodia, guaranteeing levels of pay and social and medical welfare. Its artisans have formed an association known as 'Artisanat Khmer' which has a 20% stake in the company and thus surrounds it with a decision-making power. The Cambodian government owns a 30 per cent share; the board of directors/management holds a 10 per cent share, whilst private stakeholders make up the remaining 40 per cent ownership of AA. The company's social fund also provides the artisans and staff with medical and social welfare.
[http://www.culturalprofiles.net/cambodia/units/767.html]
[http://www.culturalprofiles.net/cambodia/Units/312.html]

–Achievements
As a business, Artisans d'Angkor has become one of Cambodia’s most successful home-grown enterprises. It's the largest producer/retailer of wooden handicrafts in Cambodia. As a company, it has in its short life created, at an international level, a highly respected art and craft enterprise. It also plays a significant role in exporting Cambodian products and is one of the most prominent Cambodian enterprise entities in the country’s tourism sector. Given their business, employment, economic and social achievements in such a short period, there is nothing to highlight in terms of shortcomings. Artisans d’Angkor is simply an exceptional training and enterprise success.

-Success factors
The success of Artisans d’Angkor in such a short period is the result of a number of interrelated
factors: AA's unique structure with government, employees and private sector, continuous reinvestment in training and workshops, focus on the Khmer identity and continuous design, continuous seeking for new marketing and tourism related opportunities, focus on upmarket workmanship and high profile, high return tourist outlets, and creation of quality employment conditions and use of innovative learning methodologies.

–Replicability

As a business and training model, the CEFP and AA approach has immense learning value for other global communities wanting to grow jobs through the traditional craft sector. AA has demonstrated how to capitalize on the world’s growing tourism industry, and provides an excellent model for training, decent job creation and business success that incorporates best practice in terms of education, design, marketing, customer service and craftsmanship.

[https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/documents/publication/wcms_114186.pdf]

–Comparison with Rajana Assocation
Similarities

• Both offer vocational education
• Both promote cambodian cultural heritage
• Both provide occupations
• Shared ownership by employees
• Becoming role model for future Cambodian corporations

Differences

• Business for profit
• Varied business model: also crafts installation projects
• Operating only with their own Artisans in their own workshops
• Initiated by an European association
• Exclusive price range (even for tourists)

– Reference
Artisans d'Angkor. [http://www.artisansdangkor.com], retrieved Apr 21, 2010.
Visiting Arts | Cultural Profiles Project. [http://www.culturalprofiles.net], retrieved Apr 21, 2010.
International Labour Organization. [http://www.ilo.org], retrieved Apr 21, 2010.